21 September 2011

Community behaviour

One of my old relatives said that they did not have so many anti-social-elements in the society. Nor did they have so many mannerless and misbehaving kids. Or grown-ups for that matter. Now the number is growing, and fast.

Me: "Really! How did you manage to keep the numbers so low?"
Old guy: "Because, we had the liberty to punish any misbehaving kids, and not just your own."

He went on to highlight a few more differences:
Then: If you are caught stealing mangoes from a mango farm, anybody who caught you would scold/chase/beat you. The person who caught you could be you parent, the farm owner or some passerby.
Now: If you are caught stealing mangoes, the farm owner only chase you away. Everyone else don't care.

Then: If a complain reach your parent, your parent would severly punish you. Complaining to parent was the final straw!
Now: If a complian reach your parent, the parents just try to trivialize the issue. Nobody has time to listen. "whats the big deal man", "yeah whatever", "okay okay, it'll not happen again". If a kids see his parents supporting him, his activities would only grow. Be it good or bad. Especially bad.

Then: You were the maintainer of the society. You would make sure you keep the society in such a way that your kid would safely grow and live in it.

Now: You don't care about society anymore. All you care is how much wealth you can create for you and your kid.

After the discussion with the Wise Old Man, I was bought into his argument.